spartakusfandomcom-20200214-history
United States presidential election, 1928
3.7% | image1 = | nominee1 = Herbert Hoover | party1 = Republican Party (United States) | home_state1 = Iowa | running_mate1 = Charles Curtis | electoral_vote1 = 352 | states_carried1 = 32 | popular_vote1 = 17,658,311 | percentage1 = 48.4% | image2 = | nominee2 = Henry Ford | party2 = Democratic Party (United States) | home_state2 = Michigan | running_mate2 = James A. Reed | electoral_vote2 = 151 | states_carried2 = 13 | popular_vote2 = 12,181,538 | percentage2 = 33.4% | image3 = | nominee3 = Robert M. La Follette Jr. | party3 = Progressive Party (United States, 1924) | home_state3 = Wisconsin | running_mate3 = Floyd B. Olson | electoral_vote3 = 25 | states_carried3 = 2 | popular_vote3 = 4,598,594 | percentage3 = 12.6% | image4 = | nominee4 = Norman Thomas | party4 = Socialist Party of America | home_state4 = New York | running_mate4 = Daniel Hoan | electoral_vote4 = 3 | states_carried4 = 1 | popular_vote4 = 1,574,164 | percentage4 = 4.3% | map_size = 400px | map_image = ElectoralCollege1928.svg | map_caption = Presidential election results map Red denotes states won by Hoover/Curtis Blue denotes those won by Ford/Reed Dark red denotes those won by Thomas/Hoan Light green denotes those won by La Follette/Olson Numbers indicate the number of electoral votes allotted to each state | title = President | before_election = Calvin Coolidge | before_party = Republican Party (United States) | after_election = Herbert Hoover | after_party = Republican Party (United States) }} The United States presidential election of 1928 was the 36th quadrennial presidential election, held on Tuesday, November 6, 1928. Republican Secretary of Commerce Herbert Hoover defeated Democratic Businessman Henry Ford, Progressive Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., and Socialist Norman Thomas. After President Calvin Coolidge declined to seek reelection, Hoover emerged as his party's front-runner. As Hoover's intra-party opponents failed to unite around a candidate, Hoover received a large majority of the vote at the 1928 Republican National Convention. On the Democratic side, they looked towards a candidate that could champion economic success in the midst of an economy that had seen isolation-driven stagnation since late 1927. Businessman and Senator Henry Ford stepped in and received little opposition to his nomination. On the Progressive side, former President Hiram Johnson declined to stage another third party run. Instead, Senator Robert M. La Follette Jr., the son of deceased Senator and Vice Presidential Candidate Robert M. La Follette Sr., was nominated by the party. They hoped to stage another protest campaign against the conservative wing of the Republican party. However, La Follette suffered from two major problems. Firstly, he had failed to maintain an alliance with the Socialist Party, which had recently come under new leadership under Norman Thomas. Thomas staged his own presidential campaign. Secondly, the progressiver fervor of the mid-1920's had begun to die out, and many Republican progressives that had backed the 1924 protest campaign had returned to the party. Ultimately, Hoover was successfully able to champion the continuation of the popular aspects of the Coolidge administration while also promising to reduce poverty and the national debt and open the economy. Nonetheless, Ford was able to stage the strongest of the post-Wilson presidential campaigns, with his campaign focusing on his progressive business practices and on foreign policy. He enjoyed strong support in the south and won his home state of Michigan. La Follette failed to capture the same progressive enthusiasm as Johnson and La Follette Sr., but still received an impressive vote share for a third party, and won two states. The Socialist Party under Thomas saw its total popular vote increase to over 1.5 million, and the four way race allowed him to narrowly win the sparsely populated state of Nevada by a mere 9 votes, making this the first time that a socialist candidate had won a state.